4 Podcasts That Have Changed My Life

I'm a huge fan of podcasts. Ever since they came on the scene in 2007 I've learned so much from them. Of course, the number of podcast shows has swelled into the hundreds of thousands. But good podcasts are still quite rare. And by "good" podcasts I'm talking about shows that have relevant content, high quality audio, engaging storytelling to convey their message and are produced on consistent basis. Here is a list of shows that continue to inspire me.

1) The Tim Ferriss Show

If you are not familiar with Tim Ferriss, he is the author of a number of best selling books. The most popular of his books is The Four-hour work week. I read the "Four-Hour work week" back in 2007 and it pushed me into pursuing my dream of starting my solo-preneurial journey. Thank you Tim Ferriss!

On this podcast, Tim Ferriss interviews world-class performers from all areas of life such as investing, sports, business, art, etc. to extract the tactics and tools that have made them so successful and can be adopted by anyone. The reason I enjoy his show so much is that he goes very deep with his interview questions. He knows everything in print about his guest and then peppers them with soul searching questions. He is also very meticulous about providing links to all the product references that are in the interviews in the show notes of the podcast.

2) StartUp Podcast

As the name suggests, this is a podcast about a startup. But what makes it so special is that it's documenting the making of a startup company in real-time. The founder of this startup is Alex Bloomberg who is pursuing his dream of building a company and he is documenting every step in the process on his audio recorder. He captures pivotal conversations with his wife, early investors, co-founders and sponsors, it's totally addictive listening. This type of documentary is said to be "meta" - it's a startup podcast about creating a startup podcast, yes, I had to wrap my own head around that one too.

3) Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

In this show entrepreneurs and innovators share their experiences and stories in front of a live audience at Stanford University. Most of the speakers are alumni of Stanford. They tell the story of their challenges, struggles and triumphs in building successful companies.

4) This American Life

If you love to hear well-told stories, then this is the podcast for you. There's a theme to each episode of This American Life, and a variety of stories on that theme. Most of the stories are journalism based, with an occasional comedy routine or essay.

My favorite episode: Mind Games

5) Freakonmics Radio podcast

Ok, I know I said "four" in the title but this one is a bonus. It hasn't quite changed my life like the others but I definitely like it so I thought I'd share it with you guys. The subtitle is "the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything." For instance, in the episode I've embedded below, the show goes deep into whether grit is something you're born with or something you can learn. Enjoy!

What are some of your favorite podcasts? What do you like about them?

P.S. As an aspiring podcaster I would love to hear your comments on my podcast show.